Losing Our Lives to Take the Land

You know, when we hear the Lord's talk about go out in the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, that's really what we are. And that's very good if they stay out in the streets and lanes of the city, but they're to come to the banquet table. And sometimes it gets a little disruptive in the banquet table, but we have to work with it.

If it gets too disruptive, we have to have private Bible studies and things like that. But other than that, we have to roll with some of this. And if we have it so that everything is absolutely under control all the time, and we never have any disruption, we're going to be dead.

So anyway, and of course the other way we'd like to be able to snap our fingers and make it all happen, and now everything's perfect. And it's not quite like that either. But I'd like to talk about something along that line this morning.

When it says the Lord has begun His reign, and we say hallelujah to that, and yet in our actual living, our experience is all too often way below that. And the question that comes into many... I'd like to read some verses from Numbers 13 and into Numbers 14. I'm going to skip through to just kind of give the general picture, and then we'll go on from there.

The Lord said to Moses, Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, every one a leader among them. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan.

At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. And they brought back word to them, to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

And they told them, We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey. And this is its fruit.

Yet the people who dwell in the land are strong. And the cities are fortified and very large. Besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there, giants.

And the Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev. And the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea along the Jordan.

Everybody got scared. But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it. Then the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.

So they brought to the people of Israel an evil report of the land, which they had spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And we seem to ourselves like grasshoppers.

And so we seem to them. Then all the congregation raised a loud cry. And the people wept that night.

And all the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt. Or would that we had died in this wilderness.

Why does the Lord bring us into this land to fall by the sword? If we were asked to describe our lives as followers of Jesus, most of us would freely admit that while we have indeed tasted the power of God to deliver us from some of our old ways, and while we know that the hand of God has been upon us down through the years since that time, watching over us and protecting us by his mercy, still, there's something incomplete about our life as followers of Jesus. Most of us would have to say that like the Israelites of old, we've been brought out of Egypt, and we've been protected in the wilderness. But for some time now, we've been camped at the end of the wilderness, looking across to the promised land, knowing that over there is where we really belong.

Yet here we sit. So what's the promised land? Matthew 28. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And, Lord, I am with you always, even to the close of the age. Jesus is telling his disciples, opening the door for his disciples, including us, to go and make disciples. Go in and take the land, he's saying.

That's the promised land. A similar passage at the end of Mark, disputed by some, but here it is, and has much to tell us. And he said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name they will cast out demons.

They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the message with signs which attended it. Again a description of the promised land for us.

To be able to manifest the kingdom of God at least to those whose hearts are tended toward God. To be living in such conscious union with Jesus, that everything we do in some degree at least bears the mark of his presence. So that we, not just people we send to represent us, but we ourselves make disciples of all nations, and set the captives free, and manifest the kingdom of God.

Now that promised land is right over there across the Jordan. That land of being able to live in God's presence, walk in his power, speak an encouraging word, a sustaining word to him that is weary, call the dead to life. And we hear the Lord commanding us to go in and take that land.

So the question is, how come we can't move into that promised land? And the thing we have to look at is, were we long enough that they lost their chance? And we can see that the complaint was there are giants in the land. You know, we're going to get killed if we go in there. And so at the very edge of the wilderness, after being promised such wonderful things, they're paralyzed by the fear of death.

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in the wilderness.

Why does the Lord bring us into this land to fall by the sword? If we go in there and try to take the land, we're going to get killed. Okay, so what is it then that keeps us from moving in and beginning to make disciples of all nations? What is it that makes us so timid and cautious and self-conscious and restrained? Afraid to speak when the opportunities come, and we know they're right there in front of us. Afraid to move when people come, literally begging for some evidence of the reality of Jesus.

Why don't we move? Why can't we act? And the reason is the same. It's the fear of death. Okay, we're not afraid that somebody's going to pull a gun on us, perhaps, or stick a knife in our ribs, or poison our coffee.

But there is the fear that if, in fact, we cross over into this promised land, if we begin to do these things we're called to do, that the life that we have lived up to now is going to be disrupted to the point where it won't even be recognizable. We're going to be all messed up. Talking about the reputation we worked so hard to build, or the image, maybe even our spiritual image in the eyes of other people, that is often so important to us.

The savings of a lifetime. The dreams we've worked towards so long. If we go in and take the promised land, if we begin to speak the word that has already been put on our hearts to speak, all this is going to get disrupted.

The giants that are in the land are going to destroy our life. So, in order to cross over into that land and really take it, first we have to overcome the fear of death. So how do you overcome the fear of death? Very simple.

By dying. Truly, truly, I say to you, John 12. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me. That where I am, there shall my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

I'm going to a cross, he goes to a cross, she goes to a cross. Unless a grain of wheat falls down into the ground and dies, it abides alone. He who tries to save his life is going to lose it.

He who loses his life for my sake finds it. The way across the Jordan River from the life that is so frustrating to us, now into the life where we in fact take the land, the way from the life of fear into the life of divine fruitfulness is the way of death to self. And Jesus plugs away at that all the time in his teachings.

When Peter, Andrew, James, and John left their fishing boat and everything to follow Jesus, it was the first step in dying to self. It was also the first step in beginning to appropriate for themselves the life of God. Then when Jesus began to teach them that if they want to rise up into God, they have to go down out of themselves, humble themselves, get under his yoke, become servants.

He was teaching them the next step in learning to die to self, which is also the next step in appropriating more of the life of God. Then the disciples stood at a distance and watched as our Lord hung on that cross and died. And as they watched that death, their hearts inside them died too.

And in that death, more room was made so that when they met Jesus on the third day alive from the dead, the life of God was able to appropriate more of their hearts. Then Jesus left to go back to the Father with the command, now go in and take the land, go make disciples. And they could do it because they were dead.

They had died for themselves. They had abandoned themselves to the purpose of God. Now the Spirit of God came in and replaced the old life that was there.

And they were, in fact, free to speak what they were given to speak. They were no longer restrained by fear. And they made disciples.

And they turned the world upside down. Today, as we remain poised, most of us, at the edge of the wilderness, and look across at that promised land and hear the Spirit of the Lord telling us to grin and take it, the issue is, are we willing to lose our lives, our security, our dreams, our legitimate hopes, our secret passions? Are we willing to really let go of this and truly abandon ourselves to the mercy of God, lose ourselves in His purpose? The situation with most of us is something like this. Lord, I really do want to be your servant.

Lord, I'm willing to work in your vineyard for the rest of my life. However, there's one very small thing that I would like to take with me on my pilgrimage. And, Lord, it's nothing sinful, as far as I can see, and it's very little, and most other people seem to have it, so I don't see how you can refuse me, Lord.

All I'm asking is that you would allow me to have a job that has less hassle. I mean, other Christians have jobs that don't have the pressure. Can I have a break, too? All I'm asking is a little financial security.

I mean, there are other believers who have financial security. Is that too much for me to ask, Lord? Lord, all I'm asking is that you give me a husband, a wife. Other believers have mates.

Why can't I? All I'm asking, Lord, is that you make my marriage fulfilling. Other believers have wonderful marriages. Why can't I? Lord, all I really want is that you allow me to be a success in that just one thing.

Other people are successful. Believers are successful. Why do I have to always be a loser? And this could go on and on, until it includes at least one thing in each of our lives.

One thing that may be quite legitimate. A dream, a longing, a yearning, a desire, that we're really holding on to very tightly, and we don't want to let go of it almost at any cost or price. This one thing which may be legitimate in somebody else's life is our Isaac.

God told Abraham to offer Isaac up. And he tells us to offer Isaac up. Now, at a later point, just as God gave Abraham his son back again, gave Isaac back to his father, he might give us Isaac back to us again, or he might give us something far better than that Isaac, if that's morally possible, depending what the Isaac is.

But, to die to self, to abandon ourself to the purpose of God, means that we take this thing that may be quite legitimate and give it up. Offer it up like Abraham offered up his son, and let go of it. Lord, I let go, I commit myself to your hands, I abandon myself to your... When we come to the point where we are willing to say from the heart, OK, Lord, I abandon myself to your purpose, and I am willing to work in your vineyard with nothing to comfort me, if it should be your will, but your own unseen presence.

When we come to that point, we are then moving into the realm of the death of self, and we are then able to go in and take the land. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who spied out the land, tore their clothes, and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, the land which we passed through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land. And if the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.

Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bred for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.

But all the congregation said, to stone them with stones. When the Lord called the Israelites to go in and take the land, they hesitated, and they lost their chance, because they were unwilling to abandon themselves to the purpose of God. When Jesus told the disciples to go and make disciples, go in and take that land, because they had died to themselves, they'd given up their Isaac, they were willing to be lost in the purpose of God.

And Jesus came and said to them, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age. And they did it.

How they did it. May God help us today to leave the wilderness behind and go in and take the land by dying to ourselves every hour, every day, that we might live to be healed.